Trying To Find Shelter Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Just a few short years ago,
Some folks were subjects of racial kidding.
Profiled and provoked.
And laughed at by those who lived high and mighty.
The ones who felt it okay to be that way...
Because of fat payment checks,
They spent lavishly and were getting.
With boosted egos they themselves stroked.

Today many heads are bowed very low.
Feeling devastated by an economic blow.
With nothing in their pockets,
Or wearing on their backs to show...
Proof or reason for a continuance of pretense.
That they are indeed better,
Than the ones in cardboard boxes.
Draped with newspaper.
To prevent outside elements from coming in.

Nor better than the beggars observed on urban streets.
Weaving from sleeplessness.
As they shiver in rain and falling snow.
Hopeless is the message from them is sent.
But those with eyes turned away don't know.
Or could care a brave veteran of war is there.

Together they are now trying to find shelter.
Ex-snobs, ex-cons and disrespected vets!
And families who have lost everything.
Evicted as if disgusting pests.

All seeking a place to shower or bathe.
Or someone to give them each a dollar or more.
So they can purchase anything...
To nibble on and eat!
Holding onto feeble dignities.
And praying to be saved.
By the same society that tossed them away.

Praying they do for a return of those days...
To undo misdeeds that have left them victimized,
By their own selfish need to greed and joke...
About those they've made helpless and useless folks.
Like they see themselves now in mirrors that reflect.
Victimized by their own selfishness.
And expecting from a decadence to receive some respect.